of a civil war.
Yet the Russian people have been, perhaps, less satisfied with its
results. Since then the serfs have been compelled to work harder than
ever to pay for the land they had always cultivated and regarded as
their own. The complete ignorance of the _moujiks_ has laid them open to
greater vices than serfdom possessed and drunkenness has greatly
increased since the emancipation."[13]

At the time of which we speak, however, there was nought but rejoicing
in Russia. Freedom had unfurled her banner, and the sanguine prophets
foresaw in the near future a complete cessation of despotism and a
constitutional government such as the people had demanded since the
beginning of Nicholas' reign in 1825. Amidst the general joy, the
Governor of Kief found an opportunity for materially improving the
condition of the Jews of his province.

Mendel would have been less than human had he not endeavored to turn
this condition of affairs and Pomeroff's friendship to practical
account. For himself he desired nothing. When the Governor, in order to
have him constantly at his side, tendered him an honorable office in the
palace, Mendel gently but firmly declined the proffered honor. All his
energies were directed towards ameliorating the lot of his
co-religionists.

He one day induced the Governor to stroll with him through the Jewish
quarter, and with tact and eloquence called his attention to the crowded
condition of the houses and streets, explaining how difficult it was to
preserve health where the hygienic laws were of necessity utterly
disregarded. He showed how the streets, at first ample for all
requirements, had in the course of years become overcrowded; how hut had
been built against hut and story erected upon story, until the lack of
room deprived many a dwelling of light and air. He led the surprised
Governor through the squalid lanes near the river and demonstrated how
difficult it would be to master an epidemic when once it had taken root
there, and how the welfare of the entire town of Kief depended upon the
sanitary condition of each of its parts.

With the financial acumen of his race, he appealed to the economic
aspect of the case, demonstrated how many houses, large and small, were
standing idle in the city proper, bringing neither rent to their owners
nor taxes to the province, and depicted the benefits that would be
gained by granting the Jews the privilege of occupying such dwellings.

The Governor, who